1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection method of inspecting an electrical property of an object to be inspected, an inspection apparatus performing the inspection method, and a storage medium storing a program for realizing the inspection method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inspection of electrical properties of electronic circuits such as IC, LSI, and the like formed, for example, on a semiconductor wafer is performed using an inspection apparatus. The inspection apparatus has a probe card electrically connected to a tester, and many probes are attached to the lower surface of the probe card. The inspection of the electronic circuits is performed by bringing, for example, the probes into contact with electrodes of the electronic circuits on the wafer and causing an electrical signal to flow to the electrodes.
However, if an oxide film is formed on the electrode surface on the wafer, the electrical signal hardly flows to fail to appropriately perform the inspection. In addition, strongly pressing the probes against the electrode surface to establish an electrical conduction can break the probes and the electronic circuits. Therefore, it is proposed that a pair of probes composed of two probes in pairs (a probe pair) are brought into contact with the electrode with a low pressure and a voltage is applied between the probe pair before inspection to cause a fritting phenomenon to produce a dielectric breakdown on the electrode surface so as to establish a good electrical conduction between the probes and the electrode (hereinafter referred to as “fritting”) (Japanese Patent No. 2002-139542, and JP No. 2004-191208).
Note that the fritting phenomenon refers to a phenomenon that a high potential gradient is applied to a metal surface having an oxide film formed thereon to cause a dielectric breakdown of the oxide film, so that current flows to the metal surface.